Once upon a time, at a local network meeting...
As the 18 youth leaders sat around picking from their brown bag lunches, clusters of four and five laughed and chided each other over the personal anecdotes they had experienced over the past few weeks. The monthly Netville Youth Worker Coalition meeting was about to begin, and this informal bantering around the room was a vital element of their gathering.
After introducing Greg, the new youth pastor at Netville Assemblies of God Church, Chad, the coordinator, reminded everyone of the homecomingm events at Netville High School scheduled for the next week. He suggested that it would be a great opportunity to get on campus, hang out with kids, and meet some school administrators.
Chad then asked if any others had highlights or needs to share. Rocky from FCA and Tami from Young Life both mentioned groups of kids at Netville High they were spending time with, and asked if any of the youth pastors had kids in those campus groups. Jake from the Nazarene church referred to two juniors who were on the volleyball team whom Rocky was working with.
They decided to connect later in the week to discuss how to better reach out to the rest of the volleyball team during the coming road trip to the state tournament. Jake and Rocky had already been exploring how to better team up as a local church and ministry organization.
All four junior high youth leaders present were excited about working together at Netville Middle School, assisting the activities director with lunchtime games on Wednesdays. They estimated that over the last three months, numerous students had asked them "Why are you here?" Collectively they had seen about 30 students visit their different church youth groups.
Chad then turned the meeting to the day's topic, asking "How do you use short-term mission trips in your ministry?" After some passionate give-and- take, idea sharing and stories of "mission trip disasters," Chad took a moment to summarize the discussion and asked if anyone had comments.
Jolene, the Baptist youth pastor, asked if anyone wanted to meet and talk about working together on a special mission project to the city's homeless shelter during Christmas break. She mentioned how her youth were deeply impacted every time that they had gone. She went on to report that "The Shelter" was urging them to come every month and to invite other groups to join them. Their director had just called to say, "Our homeless children and their parents love everything you do for them, and they have begged us to have you back."
Tywone from the Vineyard Church said he'd meet with Jolene to talk about working on this. His church had recently been considering how to get their youth involved over the Christmas break in an "others-focused" project.
As the meeting closed, the youth leaders divided into small groups to pray. In one prayer huddle, four youth workers laid their hands on Renee's shoulders, asking God to protect and give wisdom to her as she was facing criticism and a challenging meeting with a few "concerned parents" the next Sunday. Roberto was also prayed for as he and his pastor had to deal with some misunderstandings and their relationship was now strained.
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This parable of "Netville USA" is representative of many local youth leader gatherings. But what is really going on here?
Embedded in every local network are snapshots of partnering that take place. In reality, various "micro-partnerships" happen under the relational umbrella of an area-wide network.
For a generation, youth ministries have networked together. In many settings, the lingo has morphed into "partnership language." Yet, language in our contemporary church culture can become neutered of its meaning - or so generic - that it can be misunderstood.
Making Partnerships Stick
What you hear in your mind when someone says, "Hey, let's network our efforts!" or "We want to partner with you" might be very different, depending on your experience. For example, it may mean one thing to a local church youth pastor, but something entirely different to a national organization's project leader calling about next year's area-wide event.
Next week, in part two of "Partnering in Netville," we'll take a closer look at four levels of partnership as churches and ministries work together to reach the students in their communities.
Doug Tegner is the Pastor of Discipleship and Mission at Redwood Chapel Community Church in Castro Valley, CA. Follow him on Twitter @dteg.